A publicly traded company is one that is owned by a number of groups including owners of the company as well as shareholders who have bought shares when the company was trading them on a stock exchange. Basically, the combined owners share in on the financial profits made by the company, but on the downside, can also suffer losses if the company doesn’t do so well.
For example…
News Corp is a publicly traded company. Established as a spin-off of the former News Corporation, News Corp focuses on the publishing area, including the famous Wall Street Journal, New York Post and News Corp Australia among other assets. News Corp trades its share by the moniker NWSA or NWS on stock exchanges like the NASDAQ and the Australian Stock Exchange.
